


Scorpions

by Venturous



Series: There's Still Time [6]
Category: Breaking Bad
Genre: Being Lost, Critters, Desert, Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-24
Updated: 2013-10-24
Packaged: 2017-12-30 09:14:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1016821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Venturous/pseuds/Venturous
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>NOTE: this fic is now updated and included in <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/4566828">There's Still Time</a></p><p> </p><p>Walter searches for the light</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scorpions

It grew quiet.

When Walt finally looked up, the scene swam blurry in his swollen eyes. Glasses, he thought, and groped in the gravel. He rose unsteadily to his feet, located his specs among the rocks at his feet, bent them into wearable shape and looked around.

It seemed that Pinkman was gone. The light had changed; the entire grotto now in shadow and noticeably cooler. Bending to the tiny spring, he rinsed his glasses of dust, then brought soothing water to his cut lip, his swollen eyes. He startled a bit to look up right into the eyes of a lizard, invisible until it turned its tiny head. It crouched, no doubt expecting to be eaten. Walter sighed.

Standing now, he felt his jaw, the coolness of his hand on the rising bruise. He listened for any sound beyond the dripping of the spring and heard none. Looking up he saw the sky streaked with red. Night fell quickly now, and he had better head back to the casa if he were to find his way. Even then…

Walt retraced his steps as best he could, which was easy while among the big rocks, but when he emerged into the flat desert he soon found that everything looked the same. The gritty soil didn’t hold a boot print well, and he hadn’t seen a distinctive mark for some time.

Feeling a rising anxiety Walt schooled his thoughts into practical matters. If only he had paid more attention on the walk out, but he had been enjoying the movement of his limbs freely in the warm sun. It was quite cool now, and he wished he had more to wear.

He knew they had been heading mostly west, so he put the sunset behind him and moved with purpose. The luminous sand held the fading light well and he though he was making progress. But searching for a tiny light ahead, some glimmer of a lit window, began to lay tricks on the mind. He would imagine a pinpoint of light, only to lose sight of it again.

The stars grew in brightness and the sliver new moon offered no helpful light. As he tired, Walt began to despair that he would never find the tiny casa, it would be so easy to overshoot in one direction or the other, and he would never know.

But wouldn’t he cross the drive? If he went past the house on the north side, he would have to cross the two track road, and he had not done that yet. When he did, he could follow it home.

So he kept veering left, and looked for Polaris to reassure him that he was heading east-north-east. But exhaustion overtook him, then grew worse. Despite the deepening cold, he had to rest. Sitting amid the sage scrub he fought a rising dizziness that buzzed in his ears, finally exhorted him to lie down and breathe slowly, drawing what warmth remained in the sand.

Full dark was well upon him as he shivered on the desert floor, but he was too weak to care when the scorpions came out and scuttled by.

**Author's Note:**

> dear readers... work is underway on the last few scenes of the story. I will post it when complete, as a single fic, and leave notice here. 
> 
> Thank you for reading!!  
> 10/28/13


End file.
